Chapter 2 The Classroom Fostering Confidence in Vocabulary

Summer Book Studies are amazingly flexible.  It's a wonderful way to meet and discuss a professional book or any other book.  You can read the chapters at your own pace; there is no set time to meet and you don't have to plan your schedule around it.  I can read or post late at night, during the day, early in the morning, etc. 
If you are having problems posting a comment, please email me and I can walk you through it.

b

I'm Lovin' Chapter 2

WOW!  Chapter 2 is a chapter that I've read twice, left myself sticky notes, and even written in or underlined important parts.  There is so much here to love and learn.  Where do we begin?

My big "ah-haa" from last year was to model, model and model appropriate behavior for the routine exercise.  Last year, we even modeled what was not acceptable behavior and what to do when it occurs.  This made a huge difference!

As Dr. Hensley challenged teachers to look at classrooms through the eyes of the kids, Is my classroom "teacher convenient or student convenient?"  Last year, I added a teacher desk back into my classroom after going without for a year and a half.  I loved the room without the desk, but my kids needed another work station.  (hahaha) I'm thinking about using the station differently this year and making it a writing center.  

The idea of a writing center caused me to look further into Writing Workshop (as a former math teacher, I'm always intrigued and learning how to teach reading and writing).  Thus, I began digging around and found a great buy (I hope) from Amazon.



Didn't you love the idea from page 28! ...the Popsicle sticks!  I am on this like white on rice!  Color coded sticks with a "number on one end, a letter on the other end, and a symbol in the middle."  This re-grouping strategy has so many possibilities!

Using IPad's in my classroom, I can't wait to see how the kids use yourdictionary.com or answers.com as a resource.  Currently, we use classroom dictionaries and yes, there is a lot of value in teaching students how to use them.  Yet, I'm thinking that many households don't have dictionaries for student use.  Giving students a resource that can be accessed by Smartphone or internet is just as important as teaching them how to use them. 

What did you love about chapter 2?

Be sure to check out what other teachers are saying about Word Nerds.  Teaching With a Touch of Twang http://teachingwithatouchoftwang.blogspot.com/ has posted some notes about the book.  Something I hadn't thought about was using Prezi to introduce new vocabulary.  I love this idea and want to play around with it this summer.